Sir, this is to let you know that as a reader and a lover of arts, I am so glad to have read this piece of work by you. ‘The ghat of the only world’ is a part of my 11th grade English curriculum, and in my few years as a student, I have never been so struck by a lesson from my English textbook, as I am by this. Which is why it also amazes me that how did something so beautiful and so amazing as your memoir land up amidst this awful anthology (apologies, but I choose not to whitewash my opinion of art).
I’m not going to lie that I completely understood Agha Shahid Ali’s poetry, because I didn’t, and I’m only 16, so no big surprises there. But I see how this memoir is not only about his time in the mortal world, but also a lot of other things of the likes of Kashmir. And it scares me to think that my generation is so indifferent to these other things (I presume you know what things I’m talking about). I say this because nobody asks questions in class anymore. Nobody asked ‘why’, when the lesson was being taught, and the teacher didn’t care to elaborate, and I didn’t want to look like a wiseacre talking about these things; plus, I doubt the teacher would have had any answers at all. But it’s just so scary to think that most of my generation will never know, and never care a dime about the plight of the past.
In conclusion, I would only like to thank you for writing something so symbolic, and fulfilling your dying friend’s desire. There is nothing more precious in this world than being immortalized by words, as established by Shakespeare himself in his Sonnet 55, which was also a part of our curriculum last year (although I’m not a huge fan of the guy, honestly). Thank you, and thank you again.
Regards
S. B.